<div>The city of Jasper’s water infrastructure crisis was the top story in last week’s edition…again. The sorry state of the city water and sewage has been a running major story for two years now.The latest chapter saw Pickens County government hire an independent engineering firm to assess the city’s system so they can decide whether to take over Jasper water customers who live outside the city limits. City officials broached this offer earlier this summer. The engineer, a 40-year veteran in the field, reported findings even worse than previous water-loss estimates in the mid-to-high 40 percents. Chris Quigley, senior vice president of DCCM Georgia, told commissioners the Jasper system is losing 50 percent of its water, meaning half of all treated water leaks out of lines and never reaches a customer. He called that figure “absolutely crazy” and literally sounded an alarm, telling commissioners, “Alarm, alarm, alarm.”Over the last year, the gravity of the city’s water problems has become increasingly apparent, like a slow leak that ends up flooding a home. It’s safe to say people are now (and rightfully so) very alarmed. What started as a temporary suspension of new water and sewer hookups in September 2024 has turned into what would better be called a moratorium with no end in sight (we would be surprised if the new September 2027 date isn’t extended again). City leaders acknowledge there is no money to fix the infrastructure and no clear solutions.A few developers have addressed council, calling it a crisis with dangerous implications for residents, including possible system failure, water contamination, increased water bills, and the possibility a large expansion of the local hospital could be derailed. Jasper’s water is all people want to talk about these days. From people we see at events, such as GOP governor candidate’s Rick Jackson’s stop here, to a reader who came by our office to talk further about the article last week, to other readers who send their own e-mail analysis of the situation. One readers asked us for a full investigative report as though some mystery remained and the gallons of ink already used wasn’t enough backstory. The cause is clearly identified (lack of maintenance over prior decades and lack of success at obtaining financing). The problem is it appears nothing is happening — at least not with any sense of urgency.People are watching and they are growing less-patient with a city hall that isn’t seemingly doing more. Calls for a town hall meeting to address the water have gone out from the public.City leaders announced in July they will explore every option, even possibly selling the system to a private company. If they are making headway in the exploration, they aren’t providing many details and this silence sends concerned citizens to social media and to this newspaper to vent.We’d ask ourselves, why was no one from Jasper at the commissioners’ meeting where the engineering presentation about their own water system was made? If some progress was being made that would have been the spot to respond.The problems with the city’s aging water system dates back years and years, and everyone understands when project costs are in the many million of dollars it can’t be addressed quickly. But, when you pledge to explore all options that means getting out, taking action and reporting back.Let’s hope it doesn’t take a worst-case outage scenario with the town’s water to force city hall to pick up the pace.</div>

Block Source: pickensprogress.com

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The city of Jasper’s water infrastructure crisis was the top story in last week’s edition…again. The sorry state of the city water and sewage has been a running major story for two years now. The latest chapter saw Pickens County government hire an independent engineering firm to...

Alarm bells ringing over Jasper’s water issues

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The city of Jasper’s water infrastructure crisis was the top story in last week’s edition…again. The sorry state of the city water and sewage has been a ru

Alarm bells ringing over Jasper’s water issues

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